Read-Write locks are used in multithreaded applications to protect shared data that is mostly accessed in read mode. Read-Write locks are used instead of mutexes so that multiple read mode threads don't block until a lock is acquired in write mode. However, read-write lock implementation by conventional operating systems often makes use of an internal mutex, put in place during some part of the time when a read mode read-write lock is acquired. The internal mutex is released as soon as the read mode lock acquisition is complete. However, for those applications that operate to acquire and release read-write locks in read mode on a frequent basis, this use of an internal mutex can significantly degrade processing performance. The reduction in performance may be quite noticeable when using multiple central processing unit (multi-cpu) hardware. Thus, there is a need for apparatus, systems, and methods to improve processing performance when read-write locks are used.